Looking to cut your food costs? Consider these “rules” for saving money on food. So, you wanna save some money on groceries, do ya? Well, lucky for you, it’s really not that difficult. You don’t need to clip coupons — though they can help the right situation — and you don’t need to worry that you’ll […]

POPULAR SERIES

Craving something fresh during these last weeks of winter? Try one of these delicious salads! Who says that winter needs to be gray and dreary? When you consider some of the fruits and vegetables that are plentiful and often on sale in winter, there’s no need to be sad. You can still eat the rainbow […]

BUY THE BOOK

You know how much I love a good Pantry Challenge, right? Well, a few weeks ago Becky Worley, a reporter for Good Morning America, contacted me and asked me to advise her on how to have a successful pantry challenge. I flew up to her home in Oakland last week where we raided her cupboard and […]

Chicken Fried Rice

Join thousands of people who've decided to eat well, spend less, and enjoy time at the table a whole lot more. Become a Good Cheap Eats Insider to receive bonus content, free resources, and great solutions for eating well on a budget.

Got leftover cooked chicken and rice? Then you’ve got the makings of a great meal.

Since my youngest daughter was officially diagnosed (through extensive testing) with a peanut and walnut allergy, our Chinese takeout experiences have dwindled. To nothing. It’s probably a good thing. I never read the ingredients list for a Panda Feast, but I’m guessing it probably wasn’t much that I could actually put in a shopping cart.

One thing that I am pleased with is my Fried Rice. My kids were a bit confused the first time I made it. It was perfectly authentic, complete with the scrambled egg. But since we’ve never ordered fried rice at an Asian restaurant, they didn’t know what to make of it. They politely asked me to omit the egg in the future. Ha!

Anyway, this is a dish that I’m made many times over the last few months. It’s a great way to use up leftover cooked meats and any cold, cooked rice you have on hand. It has to be cold rice, otherwise it won’t work. This last batch I made with a mixture of both brown and white rice. Obviously, it will seem more like Lui’s Kitchen if you use long-grain white rice, but it’ll be more whole-grainy if you use brown. Choose your poison.

The ultimate beauty of this recipe is that it comes together in less than 30 minutes.

Other recipes I’ve seen call for sugar, I’ve substituted honey instead. You can do either. It tastes great both ways.

Recipe: Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients

1/4 cup sunflower oil

4 cups cold, cooked rice

1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, chopped

1 cup mixed frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, and corn)

4 scallions, sliced

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

In a large skillet over high heat, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the rice and cook, stirring, breaking up any clumps. You want to “fry” each grain in the oil so that it’s its own separate entity, about five minutes.

Add the chicken, vegetables, and scallions and cook, stirring for 2 minutes.

Add the broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and pepper. Cook, stirring for 1 more minute. Cover and cook another minute or so.

Comments

I love to make fried rice as a main dish. My mother grew up in Hong Kong, so this was just a practical thing she did with leftovers. Leftover rice was very common in my house when I was young. I like to save up bits of leftover rice and freeze it, and then make fried rice when I have enough. We are primarily meatless in my family, so I use about 4-5 cups of vegetables (fresh/frozen, what I have on hand). The great thing about this is you can use that half pepper or two mushrooms that you don’t know what to do with. My crew likes the eggs fine, so I use about three in our version. Also, I’m partial to using about 2 Tbsp of toasted sesame oil (and 2 Tbsp of some other vegetable oil) for fried rice. The sesame oil really adds to the flavor of the dish. You don’t indicate if your sesame oil is toasted or not. I think the flavor is a bit more intense with the toasted oil.

I like it, too! In the last stages of cooking, just push the rice, etc to one side of the pan. Add one or two beaten eggs to the empty space in the pan and cook it scrambled-style. Once cooked, mix that into the rest of the dish.

Hey! This was really good stuff!! I used brown rice as that’s all we eat, and the texture gets a little gooey with lots of stirring, but I fried it a bit longer to dry it up a bit. Also, I used coconut oil instead of sunflower oil and cooked up a bit of onion and garlic instead of scallions; both of which add some delicate flavors. Love the idea about mushrooms! Thanks so much for a beautiful place to start!!

Popular Series

Disclaimer

Please note that the advertisements posted here do not necessarily represent FishMama's views and opinions. Also be advised that some of these advertising partners may use cookies and web beacons on our site (when you click through). I have no control over this. You should consult the respective privacy policies of these third-party ad servers for more detailed information on their practices as well as for instructions about how to opt-out of certain practices.